This dimension is about how status is accorded to people in different cultures. The contrast between an achievement culture and an ascriptive culture is not difficult to understand. Achievement means that people are judged on what they have accomplished and on their record. Ascription means that status is attributed to you by things like birth, kinship, gender, age, interpersonal connections, or educational record. The former kind of status is called achieved status and the latter ascribed status. Achieved status refers to doing; ascribed status refers to being. Take a look at the difference from another angle. Achievement-oriented societies or organizations justify their hierarchies by claiming that senior people have "achieved more." In ascription-oriented cultures, however, hierarchies are justified by "power-to-get-things-done." Here are some examples.